


Precious Metals, Humble Outsiders, and You

by dearzoemurphy



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, Season/Series 06
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-22
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-12 00:47:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29626551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dearzoemurphy/pseuds/dearzoemurphy
Summary: Everything about her was golden.Her hair, her smile, the way the sun seemed to wrap itself around her whenever she was standing under it. The warmth that radiated from her somehow felt like it, too, was gold.Frankie had always thought of herself as being more like silver. Cool, tough, and shiny, but easily tarnished. Easier to inherit from a grandparent and stuff into the back of a cabinet. Easier to forget about. That was just how she’d always been.Britta befriends Greendale's new administrative consultant, who hadn't planned on growing attached to anything - or anyone.
Relationships: Frankie Dart/Britta Perry
Comments: 8
Kudos: 17





	Precious Metals, Humble Outsiders, and You

**Author's Note:**

> yes, I still write Community fics that aren't Jeffbritta-centric from time to time! and I really wanted to get something up during femslash February. hope you all enjoy this little Fritta thing!!

Everything about her was golden.

Her hair, her smile, the way the sun seemed to wrap itself around her whenever she was standing under it. The warmth that radiated from her somehow felt like it, too, was gold.

Frankie had always thought of herself as being more like silver. Cool, tough, and shiny, but easily tarnished. Easier to inherit from a grandparent and stuff into the back of a cabinet. Easier to forget about. That was just how she’d always been.

So meeting Britta had been a bit of a shock. She wasn’t sure that she’d ever known anyone with the woman’s sheer passion. Passion for making the world a better place, passion for standing up for what she believed in, passion for life itself.

Of course, Frankie quickly learned that this passion could be a dangerous thing. She hadn’t expected “rogue group of students created an illegal speakeasy in the school’s basement” to be one of the problems she’d have to solve.

 _“Few would,”_ she’d reasoned.

But she still came back. She apologized to Abed, who she’d accidentally hurt. The rest apologized to her, and everything seemed to be back on track.

Until Britta and her golden smile came in and wrecked all of her plans once again.

\---

“Hey! Frankie! Wait up!”

She turned to see Britta running after her, arms waving wildly in all directions. Frankie paused, more out of confusion than anything else.

“Britta? What’s going on?”

“Oh, nothing life-or-death,” Britta said, reaching Frankie’s side and stopping for a moment to catch her breath, “I just wanted to see how you were doing after…everything. And issue a more personal apology.”

Once Frankie made sure that Britta wasn’t going to collapse, she resumed strolling down the hall, now with the other woman by her side.

“Oh, I’m doing just fine. And you don’t have to.”

“But I want to. I was a bitch to you, and I had the audacity to call _you_ a bitch behind your back, and I’m really sorry. We were all just really scared of things changing. Even though change isn’t always a bad thing.”

Frankie’s mouth quirked up into a smile. “Well, thank you for your honesty, Britta. I appreciate it.”

“Any time,” Britta replied with a smile twice as radiant.

“Though I do want to make sure that you all know that I’m committed to working with you going forward. Not _everything_ has to change, this place is clearly important to you,” Frankie stressed.

“I know. I think we _all_ know, but you can never be sure when it comes to Jeff.”

Frankie laughed. “Well, that's good to know.”

“I’m sure everything will work out just fine! Right now, I’ve gotta get to the sandwich counter, I just wanted to make sure that I caught you when I could,” Britta said.

“Of course. Have a good rest of your day,” Frankie replied, having trouble maintaining her always professionally neutral tone and expression.

“Yeah, you too! See you later!” Britta gave her a slightly awkward half-hug before waving and running back down the hallway in the direction she’d come from.

Frankie could only shake her head as she watched the blonde run away, clicking her tongue as she stepped into her office. But as she shut the door, she felt the urge to walk right back out and stop by the cafeteria for an overly toasted sandwich.

\---

“Do you always eat alone?”

Frankie looked up from her salad and saw Britta standing over her, cafeteria tray in hand. It had been a few days since their conversation in the hallway and she’d just been lamenting their lack of one-on-one time.

 _“Is her timing always this perfect?”_ she wondered.

“Not always,” Frankie answered aloud, “But…usually. I like using the time to go over Greendale’s books and financial records, since no one’s done a great job of keeping them over the years.”

“Sounds boring,” Britta said. She flopped down onto the seat across from Frankie and set her tray on the table between them.

“It can be. But it can also be rewarding. Some of these are so convoluted that they’re like a puzzle that's asking to be solved,” Frankie said. She instantly felt herself getting a little too excited about financial records and sensed Britta attempting to withhold judgment about her excitement.

“It’s okay. Feel free to judge me,” she added.

Britta chuckled. “I’m not judging! Everyone has their own things that they enjoy, and if you like math and numbers and unraveling the Dean’s financial system, then I’m not gonna stop you from enjoying them.”

“That’s rather generous of you.”

“I can be generous when I want to be.”

Frankie closed the file she’d been pouring over and slid it to the side. “And what makes you want to treat me with generosity?”

“I don’t know,” Britta shrugged, “I don’t know you very well, but it seems like you deserve it.”

Frankie smiled back. “The very same to you, Britta.”

\---

She was gold. She was gold, and yet, the others had dared to hurt her.

It was hard to get the full story from the near hysterical Britta, but Frankie could piece together the basics. Her friends had been accepting money from her parents. The parents that hurt her, the parents she’d cut off. Her friends apologized to her when she found out and explained they only took the money to help her, their relationship didn’t go any further than that. They were incredibly sorry for not telling her, but thought they were doing a good thing by taking the money to give it to her. And ignorance seemed to be bliss for a while.

“I believe them. That’s what sucks, I believe them,” Britta said between sniffles, “It would be so much easier if I didn’t and I could just be mad at them.”

“You have a right to still be mad at them. At least for a little while,” Frankie assured her.

“I guess. I don’t know, they really did just want to help me because they love me. I just wish they would have told me when my parents first got in touch with them.”

“I understand. Family is complicated enough without your friends getting involved.”

“Yeah.”

They sat in silence for a few moments, Frankie unsure of what to say or do. However, Britta made things easier by turning and burying her head into the crook of her neck. The administrative consultant readily wrapped her arms around the smaller woman and took to gently rubbing her back.

“I’ll be fine,” Britta said softly, just barely lifting her head up off of Frankie’s shoulder. “Thanks for stopping to make sure I was okay, though.”

“Of course. I usually walk right by people crying on park benches, but I figured that I should stop for you,” Frankie said dryly.

Britta laughed, her head falling back onto her shoulder. “It’s nice to know that I’m special.”

Frankie couldn’t help but smile at the other woman before looking out over the quad from the bench they were sitting on. Her eyes landed on the horizon, where the sun was just about to dip below the clouds.

“Listen, it’s going to get cold out here pretty soon. Do you want to go somewhere else and keep talking or do you just want to go home?”

Britta dabbed at the corners of her eyes before answering. “I mean…I can always go for some frozen yogurt.”

\---

“So you all were in this place on the exact same day at the exact same time when you each decided to attend Greendale?” Frankie asked, spooning up some of her chocolate-vanilla twist.

Britta nodded. “Yeah! Crazy coincidence, right?”

“But you didn’t all meet then?”

“No. We met through our Spanish class. Jeff started a fake study group to have a chance at sleeping with me. Long story short, it became a real study group, we went through a lot together, some of us left, and now here we are!”

“So you’ve all been together for…”

“Five years. This is our sixth.”

Frankie tilted her head to the side. “And none of you have considered graduating, aside from Jeff?”

“Annie did, but she decided that she hated hospital administration. I declared a major late, so I’ve had some catching up to do. I think Abed came back just because the rest of us did, and Chang’s been stuck in a cycle of going from teacher to student for a few years now,” Britta explained.

“Chang used to be a teacher?!” Frankie exclaimed, eyes practically bugging out of her head.

“Yeah! He was the teacher of the Spanish class we all met in.”

 _That_ information was going to take a little while to process. Frankie shook her head, still trying to take it all in. “Wow. So you all really have been connected for that long.”

“Mhm. I mean…it’s why I believe them. It’s why I have to forgive them, because I _know_ they thought they were doing the thing that would help me the most. It’s what we’ve always done for each other.”

Frankie nodded, her gaze lowering itself to the ground. “I understand. At least, I think I do. I’ve never really had a group of friends like that before.”

Britta smiled warmly. “Well, you do now.”

“What do you mean?”

She reached across the table and tapped Frankie’s chin, getting her to look up. “You’ve got us.”

\---

After that night, they started eating lunch together every single day. Britta told her that the whole group used to eat together, but now, with her running the sandwich stand, Jeff teaching, and Annie and Abed taking on extra classes, they didn’t have as much overlapping free time as they used to. Thankfully, Frankie usually dictated when her own free time was, so she could ensure that it _always_ overlapped with Britta’s.

“You know, right when I thought this school couldn’t out-do itself on weirdness, we had to create a situation room to deal with a rival school’s attack ad exposing the fact that we nearly gave a degree to a dog. How am I even able to say those words in that order?” Frankie mused.

Britta shrugged. “You’ll get used to it. If you stick around as long as we have, at least.” She took a bite of her salad, then set down her fork and thoughtfully tapped one finger against her chin. “Say, how long _are_ you planning on being here?”

“I’m…not sure.”

Frankie really hadn’t put a lot of thought into it yet. She’d come out to Colorado to help her sister, sure, but after only a few weeks on the job, she was really starting to appreciate everything Greendale had to offer.

 _“Greendale, and Britta,”_ a voice buried deep in the back of her head whispered. She quickly dismissed the thought and plastered a polite smile on her face.

“I’m sort of playing it by ear, you know? Seeing how long my sister needs me here. And how long Greendale needs me here, for that matter.”

Britta laughed. It sounded like golden bells and twinkling stars to Frankie.

“Babe, I don’t think there will _ever_ be a day where Greendale doesn’t need you.”

Frankie usually didn’t like that nickname. But it was strangely nice to hear it coming out of Britta’s mouth.

“Well, in that case, I guess I’m stuck here forever with the rest of you.”

“I guess you are.”

For the sentiment they were exchanging, both women sounded far too affectionate and were gazing at each other with a little too much fondness.

\---

“I really don’t get the point of doing this,” Jeff grumbled.

“It’s team building!” Annie huffed with a healthy amount of indignation. “Solving the puzzles and breaking us out of here will bring us closer together and make us a better team.”

Jeff sighed and flopped down onto a stool placed in the corner of the small room, whipping his phone out of his pocket as he did so. “Whatever. You guys find the clues and I’ll decode the secret messages or whatever.”

Annie rolled her eyes in response and returned to running her hand along the patchy wall in search of a lead.

No one seemed exactly sure _how_ the forensics major had talked them all into doing an escape room together. But, somehow, her, Jeff, Abed, Britta, Elroy, Chang, and Frankie had found themselves locked in a tiny, poorly decorated room in a strip mall off of exit 42 on a Saturday afternoon.

“How does a deserted island escape room even make sense? If we were really on a deserted island, there would be no rooms,” Britta grumbled.

“You don’t know that. What if there were indigenous people living on the island? They would have houses with rooms,” Elroy countered.

“Fair point. But there wouldn’t be a room like this,” she said, gesturing to the walls around them that had been painted to look like the ocean.

He nodded slowly as he looked down at the fake sand beneath their feet. “Fair point.”

Frankie chuckled. So far, she’d been rather bored by the whole affair, but still wanted to support Annie’s quest to make them a better team. She was currently scanning a pile of suspiciously placed rocks to check for something that might help them open the two locked treasure chests near the door, which Abed was convinced held the key to their escape. After a few more moments of rock sorting, Britta sauntered over and kneeled down beside her, picking up a fake rock and turning it over in her hand. She inspected it for a moment before sighing and leaning in close to Frankie, her lips hovering only an inch or so away from her ear.

“If we were really stuck on a deserted island, which one of us would you eat first?”

Frankie let out a short laugh, her hand flying up to cover her mouth when she recognized that the sound had escaped her. Britta rocked back onto her heels and smiled at her almost smugly.

“That’s a rather morbid question.”

Britta shrugged as she chucked the rock back on top of the pile. “Maybe. But it’s fun to hear people’s answers.”

Frankie shook her head, unable to help herself from smiling at Britta’s chipper attitude. “Okay, well…I think I would say Chang. Only because I don’t know him very well. And I would only do it if we had absolutely exhausted all other options.”

“I’m not sure if you _want_ to get to know him any better,” Britta joked.

“I’m sure that he’s a fine person!”

“He tried to stage a coup with a child militia and locked the Dean in the school basement for a month.”

Frankie stared directly into Britta’s eyes, searching for a sign that she was either joking or lying. She couldn’t find a single one.

“You’re kidding me.”

“Have I ever lied to you?”

“I don’t think so?”

Britta laughed; the sound quickly cementing itself as one of Frankie’s favorites. “Well, I’m not lying now. Greendale’s fucked up, Francesca.”

“Wait, guys!” Annie interrupted, “I think I found something! This part of the tree can be pulled off!” Both Frankie and Britta turned to see her remove a stick-on palm frond from a painted on tree.

“Look! There’s some kind of code written on the back.”

Abed quickly slid over to her and began to study it. “That’s a lead. It could match up to some of the symbols etched onto the rocks. Britta? Frankie? You got anything on those?”

“Wait, there’s supposed to be symbols on these things?” Britta asked, lifting one up to her face and squinting at it.

It was Frankie’s turn to laugh. “Yes. I just couldn’t figure out what any of them meant.”

“Well, bring some over here! We can start trying to make sense of them,” Annie insisted.

Frankie gathered up an armful of the fake rocks, watching Britta as she did the same. Elroy came over to collect the few that remained while Chang snatched the palm frond out of Annie’s hand and appeared to be attempting to read it upside down.

“You know, if we ever get out of here…” Britta started to whisper as they dumped the rocks off in front of Annie and Abed.

“They’ll let us out in an hour no matter what,” Frankie noted, pointing up at a giant ticking digital clock above the door.

“Great! In that case, do you wanna get a drink with me in an hour? There’s this super cool bar that I don’t work at and don’t get to go to that often,” she said, then quickly added: “I think we could use it after all of this.”

Frankie’s gaze darted over to the rest of the group - who were earnestly attempting to arrange foam rocks in the same order that they appeared on the palm frond cipher - and Jeff, who was still texting from the stool in the corner. When she looked back at Britta, the woman seemed to have a golden glimmer of hope in her eye.

_“Hope for what, getting out of here early? Getting out of here…so that she can go out with me?”_

“That sounds great,” Frankie replied earnestly.

“Awesome!” Britta said, a wide grin spreading across her face as she held one hand up for a high five. Frankie chuckled at the action, but quickly reciprocated it.

“Do you think we should try to help or…?”

“You know, honestly, I think they’ve got it,” Frankie said as Annie triumphantly sprang up from the ground and ran over to the 3-D plastic palm tree on the other side of the room.

“That’s fair. I don’t mind hanging back and hanging out with you.”

Frankie found that she didn’t mind doing the same either.

\---

“C’mon, there’s _no way_ a girl like you is single!”

Frankie blushed involuntarily as she fiddled with her glass of cider. “Oh, it’s very easy to believe. I’ve been told that I have an abrasive personality.”

Britta scoffed. “Bullshit! Anyone who’s ever told you that is an idiot,” she insisted. “And I promise, you could have any guy you wanted if you tried. Like, that one over there!” She enthusiastically pointed over to a tall, dark-haired man standing on the other side of the bar.

“Oh, well…” Frankie dipped her head lower and bit her lip.

 _“You were going to have to tell her eventually, right? With your level of closeness, it was bound to come up at some point,”_ she reasoned. _“No time like the present. You can just say it.”_

“I don’t want any men.”

“Oh! Like…at all? Ever?”

Frankie gave a small shake of her head. “No. Never. But…I do want some women. Sometimes.”

She had no idea why she had been so nervous when Britta gasped and threw her arms around her shoulders, jostling her around excitedly.

“Really?! I thought so! The others said I was crazy or just making it up because I wanted it to be true, but…”

It seemed as though Britta realized what she had said and slowly retreated away from Frankie, tucking her hair behind her ears and staring straight down into her drink as she did so.

“I’m sorry…” Frankie’s mind was spinning as it desperately tried to catch up, “what? What do you mean by that?”

“I mean, you’re a very pretty woman. Even just looking at your eyes, they’re a beautiful brown, and they have these flecks of gold in them? Not to mention everything else _below_ your eyes. Trust me, _anyone_ would hope that they had a shot with you when they first saw you.”

“…are you saying that you want a shot with me?”

Britta looked back up, and her expression was even more hopeful than the glimmer in her eye had been. It didn’t hurt that she was currently bathed in golden light from the fixtures hanging above the bar, something that only made her more beautiful than she usually was.

“Um, yes. Do I…or, could I have a shot with you?” She sounded so timid, so unsure, that it almost made Frankie melt right on the spot.

“Britta, of course you can. I should really be the one asking for a shot with _you_.”

Her face visibly lit up. “You mean it?”

Frankie smiled back just as warmly. “I’m not cruel, Britta. I wouldn't lie about that.”

“That’s great,” Britta said, letting out a breath that she appeared to have been holding, “and…does that make this like, our first date?”

“It can be whatever you want it to be.”

Britta went silent for a moment, seemingly to consider the proposition. “Well, I kind of sprung this on you, so it’s okay if it’s not,” she said, “but on the other hand…I usually kiss people after my first date with them.”

Frankie raised an eyebrow. “And?”

“And I want to kiss you, silly!” Britta said, sounding more impatient than Frankie had ever heard her.

 _“Oh, so this was orchestrated,”_ Frankie thought, smiling to herself, _“She doesn’t just want a shot with me. She_ wants _me. And that’s…new.”_

“I’m not sure I like that nickname,” she said after a moment, her smile morphing into a playful smirk.

Britta huffed and rolled her eyes. “Whatever, forget it. I guess I should take this moment to say that it’s been really nice getting to know you over these past few weeks. I’ve liked having a new friend, and, uh, it would be really cool to have something a little more than a friend, if you want that as well.”

Frankie was used to taking initiative, but she usually made only heavily planned and thoroughly calculated moves. However, the decision to reach over and cup Britta’s chin was one that she barely thought through. She didn’t process it until her lips were already on Britta’s. The other woman gave a squeak of surprise, quickly reciprocating and throwing her arms around Frankie’s shoulders once more; this time with even more enthusiasm.

After a moment, Frankie pulled away slowly, keeping her eyes closed as though it were all a dream and everything would disappear when she opened them. But eventually, she did, and seeing Britta smile made her _feel_ golden in a way that she never had.

“I do. It’s been nice getting to know you, too. I have no idea how hard this transition would have been without you to help me through it,” she said confidently, “And, for what it’s worth, anyone would be lucky to have a shot with you, and I’m not taking this for granted.”

Britta smirked. “Well, I’m just glad that you made it easy to call this an official first date.”

“I did, didn’t I?”

“Don’t worry. I always plan something really great for my second dates,” she said, raising her glass to clink it against Frankie’s.

Frankie couldn’t help but grin. “I’m not worried. I’m _beyond_ excited to spend more time with you.”

“And I with you, Francesca.”

“You know, I usually don’t like it when people call me that.”

“Then why haven’t you asked me to stop doing it yet?” Britta asked, her tone edging on outraged.

Frankie patted her on the shoulder to calm her down and ease her back into her chair, then hummed as she tried to formulate an answer that made sense. She supposed that it was the same one she'd been using recently for every other Britta-related question, though.

“I like it when you do it.”

Britta quickly relaxed, letting out a sigh of relief . “Good. Because I like calling you that. It’s a pretty name for a pretty person.”

Frankie could hardly do more than blush and give a bashful smile. This girl was going to ruin her one day, wasn’t she.

\---

“Wait, so you two are _dating_?!” Jeff asked incredulously, his eyes darting between Britta and Frankie.

“Yes, Jeff. Frankie’s my girlfriend. You got a problem with that?” Britta asked, cocking her head to the side.

“No. I’m just impressed that you managed to pull _her_.”

Britta swatted him on the arm, causing Frankie to laugh.

“If anything, _I’m_ the lucky one here.”

Annie gave a short ‘aw’ and placed both hands over her heart as if to stop her feelings from bubbling right out of her. Both Abed and Elroy seemed rather ambivalent to the announcement, but Abed also seemed to be observing everyone rather closely. Frankie was learning that was one of his favorite things to do, and honestly couldn’t judge him for it. Observing the students and faculty of Greendale was quickly becoming more than just a job for her.

“Well, what a great way to start off today’s meeting!” Annie cooed, “And perfect, since we’re talking about renting out the cafeteria to a group that wants to host a dating convention for elderly people.”

“Are you calling Frankie and Britta elderly?” Jeff asked with a near wicked grin on his face.

“What? No! I just meant that it was topical since they announced that they were dating and we’ll be talking about hosting a dating convention!”

“It’s okay, Annie. Tell us how you really feel,” Britta said with mock seriousness.

Annie rolled her eyes. “Let’s just move on!”

After a little more laughter and teasing from Jeff and Britta, they did. But Frankie was finding it hard to care about the contents of the meeting when her new girlfriend was _right there_ , sitting only a few seats away. It had barely been a week since they’d made things official, but Britta had already found a million ways to make absolutely everything better.

 _“She’s making me golden, too,”_ Frankie thought. Being silver for so long had been fine. But now that - with Britta’s help - she’d truly begun to shine, she didn’t know if she would want to go back to being dull ever again.

**Author's Note:**

> if you feel so inclined, let me know what you thought in a comment!! I still have a huge soft spot for these two, so I'll probably write something else with them in between my long fic updates and might even add onto this. 
> 
> if there's anything specific you'd like to see that's in the spirit of the month, feel free to let me know! I might not get to all requests, but I want to write a little more f/f before February is over.
> 
> I hope you all are doing well and staying safe, have a good day/night!! <3


End file.
